[Courses] [Careers] From 'I must have a job' to 'I must have a wonderful job'

[Karine Proot]

Mary wrote:
> On Sat, Jan 22, 2005, Karine Proot wrote:
> 
>>(Note : this may only apply to french work system - but some decisions I 
>>made can be understood anyway :) also, please excuse my bad english 
>>wherever it slips in).
> 
> 
> This system of "service" companies who send people out to work with
> clients exists in Australia too, but it sounds like it's much more
> common in France.

I talked about it to a canadian friend who found it strange, so I know 
it doesn't exist everywhere. But it is very common in France indeed, and 
people coming from engineer schools mainly apply to these.

> How many of your collegues at the client are working
> for service companies? Is it just you or do they have many other people
> from service companies?

Well, usually it's not a big part (around 10-15%). At first the 
"service" companies (do you have a proper name in Australia? I couldn't 
find something suitable) were useful to small businesses who wanted some 
people to keep their computers running fine and maybe do a few home 
applications, and for larger companies who had some ponctual needs (like 
a rush on the end of a project). But they have become a way for 
companies to be able to instantly fire 10-15% without any damage, so 
even big IT companies have around 10-15% of external workers just in 
case something bad happens so they can send them back and reduce costs 
very quickly without all the obligations they have when firing people.

Anyway, my current client is very different : we are around 50% external 
worker. In my team noone is directly hired, in the team next to us only 
one on ten. My boss and the boss of my boss also come from the outside. 
The high bosses and all the financial department are 100% direclty hired 
though. A lot of people are wondering how that can work as there is no 
real 'company spirit', but so far I don't have any problem with it.

I guess we won't stay in those companies forever, as it can be quite 
cool to feel being part of a company and wanting it to succeed. But in 
our situation (building a good resume to go back to south of France), 
this system is ideal as we can get various experiences.


Karine